This Is How We Do It
by At Some Actor's West Side Loft
Summary: A re-write of some of the Bellas' experiences at Worlds and some other adventures. Will eventually end with BeChloe. Reviews are like the two dorks I'm writing about: awesome.
1. Crushing It

Their host—who, unfortunately, gives off an aca-trocious creeper vibe, which doesn't really put Chloe at ease—turns and points to a giant board.

"The final category is…male/female hip hop collaborations!" he announces with a sweeping gesture. "Bellas and DSM, you will go back and forth in intervals until one of you fails to respond in the allotted time frame. You have twenty seconds to come up with a song. Captains, come forward for the coin toss to decide who begins."

There's a collective groan from the Bellas, followed by hasty brainstorming, but Chloe's a bit distracted by Beca trying to hide her crush on the Kommissar since she's failing miserably, and it's adorable. And Chloe likes when Beca is adorable. She has a bit of a knack for it, between simply being small and wearing lots of plaid and flannel and trying to be badass but then also getting sucked into watching Vines of precious puppies when she takes breaks from mixing. She _squeals_ at them. Chloe didn't think it was possible.

Beca's probably unaware that Chlo knows her weakness for dogs. She usually watches the videos when Chloe's in the shower and the house is empty and she can indulge in her guilty pleasure privately.

Chloe doesn't stalk Beca _that_ much, but it's hardly her fault the Bellas have a weird house and her bathroom has a vent connected to Beca and Fat Amy's bedroom, meaning she can eavesdrop.

Again, not that she does it all the time. Just when she can tell something's eating at Beca and she's even quieter and moodier than usual.

Suddenly, DSM starts in on their song, one of Chloe's newest lady jams: "Drunk in Love."

"Wait, that counts as a collaboration?" Beca jabs her finger at (surprise, surprise) the Komissar. They're not even gonna get to Jay-Z's part!" she continues. "How is that a collaboration?"

"Unfortunately for your team, it does fit the category," the host answers.

"So we're more screwed than when Obama saw my vag, yeah?" Fat Amy groans.

In a word, yes. None of the Bellas are that into rap, so they're in trouble.

Beca grabs Chloe—a definite sign of her stress, given how the brunette usually abhors even a tap on the shoulder—and whispers, "Do you have anything? Any ideas? Cause my mind is blank."

Chloe's is, too, because goddammit, Beca Mitchell manages to look fantastic even when she's exhausted and her hair's a mess and her fingernails are worn down from her nibbling on them. But getting lost in thoughts (okay, daydreams) about her best friend does wonders for the redhead this time.

"Yes," she answers, trying to inject confidence into her nod.

Beca gives that half smile Chloe's grown to love. "You look like a bobble head, Beale. Can I trust your judgment, or are you going bonkers?"

"Absolutely, Mitchell." Chloe gives her a winning smile, plus a jaunty salute, then whips back around to listen to DSM, grinning when she notices Beca follows close behind her.

" _Flashing lights, flashing lights,"_ DSM harmonizes perfectly on the first verse.

"5 seconds to jump in, Bellas!"

 _"You…"_ and Chloe pounces on the line, belting out, " _You can sound the alarm/you can call all the guards/you can fence in the yard/you can hold all the cards/But I won't back down!/Oh, no, I won't back down! Oh no…"_ she holds the note, praying her guess will pay off.

And Beca strides past her—actually _shoves_ the taller redhead behind her—as if to simultaneously protect Chloe and take over for her.

If an adorable Beca makes Chloe happy, an aggressive one makes Chloe horny.

Beca stares the Komissar down and bobs from side to side while—there's no other term for it, and Chloe's hardly one to use rap lingo, but the phrase "spitting fire" seems appropriate. _"Am I the reason that your boyfriend stopped rappin?_ " She points at the guy next to the tall blonde German girl, quirks an eyebrow, smirks. _Fuck_ , this unleashed side of Beca is doing unholy things to Chloe at the worst possible time. _Does a bird chirp?/Does Lil Wayne slurp syrup and smoke purp til he burps? Does a word search get circles wrapped around it like you do when I come through?_ Beca takes another step forward toward the taller girl, energy crackling out of her eyes. She waggles her tongue in a stellar Michael Jordan impression (yeah, she's actually fairly into sports, though most people didn't guess it) relishing the power she's gotten, the way she's taken DSM by storm, proving she is most definitely NOT a little troll, and the lyrics back her confidence up. _I'd like you to remind yourself of what the fuck I can do when I'm on the mike/Now you're the kinda girl that I can take a liking to_ /" Beca tilts her head, aims a sugary sweet grin at the Kommissar, elicits a gasp from the taller girl. Then the brunette winks, jumps away, and yells, " _Psych! I'm spiking you like a football"_

The buzzer goes off.

"DSM has not responded in time. Therefore, the Bellas have won!"

Chloe feels Beca's shoulders heaving as she grabs the brunette in a hug from behind, and it's like a switch flipped, and Becs is back to normal.

"Uh…why are you all staring, dudes?" she asks as she turns around, and Chloe nearly giggles, cause only Beca would rap like that out of nowhere and not think it's a big deal.

"Cause you just dominated Sound Machine!" Emily shouts, joining on Chloe and Beca's hug.

"Well, good thing my favorite redhead happened to come up with that song idea," Beca grins, pulling Chloe into a one armed hug-headlock combo. Her voice rises at the end of the sentence: the host is turning the competition floor into a dance floor to open the post riff-off party. She glances down at Chloe who, for once, is actually closer to the ground than the brunette, which pretty much only happens when Fat Amy's margarita bombs put _everyone_ on their ass. So Beca, being Beca, sticks her tongue out and deadpans, "How'd you know to pick it, short stack?"

Only Beca can get away with dropping so much sass and physical humor on Chloe.

God, she is so whipped.

"When I booted up your laptop so we could watch Grace and Frankie on Netflix the other day, it was playing. Couldn't get it out of my head," she shrugged. Which is par for the course in her friendship with Beca. Anytime she mentions a new movie, song, or show, Chloe hops on Google and finds at least a Wikipedia article about it. Or bugs Beca with more questions.

Like that time a few weeks ago when the brunette mentioned she'd never heard the song "Kiss Me" and Chloe asked, "Which version?" Beca answered, "There are two?"

So Chloe had played New Found Glory's version first, assuming Beca would love the pop-punk version. Beca had dubbed it "meh," then did her patented "I dig this shit" slow head bob along to the Sixpence None the Richer version, which had led to Chloe calling her a "big teddy bear of a romantic." Beca had shot back that if she was a teddy bear, she'd use her cuteness to convince the other bears she was harmless, but then attack them without warning to ransack their honey supplies. And Chloe nearly fell off a kitchen stool laughing at the thought of Beca Mitchell dressed up as a teddy bear for Halloween.

Beca snaps her fingers inches away from her best friend's face. "Earth to Beale! Resident gorgeous, life ruining ginger, please respond!"

Chloe gawked. Then accidentally put 3 quarters Jack and one quarter Coke into a red cup at the bar. Apparently, something other than her brain is good at not walking into people, cause she doesn't really have a clear thought process as to how or why she ended up over here.

"Aww yeah, turn up for the victors," Stacey nodded and grinned in approval of Chloe's decision.

Chloe dumped it out quickly and remade the drink correctly, wondering how the hell Beca doesn't notice just how flustered she gets when she flirts. It's really absurd, given that Becs is aca-awkward as hell, but there ya have it.

The redhead clears her throat, praying her voice doesn't crack. She already feels enough like a pimply teenage boy talking to an out of his league crush. "Gorgeous and life ruining? Where'd you find that description, and how can I be both those things?" Chloe gave a mock frown. "If I'm gorgeous I'm clearly making someone's life better."

"A tag on Tumblr," the brunette answered. "I dunno, Chlo, act it out." She tapped one foot on the wood floor. Chloe grinned and adopted a lofty pose and a throaty Southern accent. "I have scores of gentlemen callers at my door all hours of the weekend! I do declare, if they don't leave soon, I shan't have time to bake a pecan pie for tomorrow's potluck dinner at church." She makes a dismissing yet friendly hand motion at an invisible suitor. "Do get along, Mr. Sanders." Here, Chloe winks and says, "A true lady doesn't kiss and tell, that's what makes me more worth my while than Sandra McCarthy," and Beca and Emily snort their drinks out of their respective noses at the same damn time, so Kimmy scampers away to retrieve napkins. In the meantime, Beca uses Chlo's hoodie sleeve as a handkerchief, and the redhead laughs along with the chaos, not even caring that Beca's snot is smeared on an article of her clothing. Cause really, to Chloe Beale, Beca Mitchell can do no wrong.


	2. A Hastily Planned Adventure

As the Bellas munched on some post party Arby's and Taco Bell around 1 AM, Beca reveled in the fact that she'd be lucky enough to get to sleep in the following morning. She hadn't gotten a full eight hours in at least a month and a half between the Bellas and her internship and squeezing in movie date nights with Jesse.

Chloe changed her plans.

"Listen up, aca-bitches," the redhead orders. She steals the jumbo curly fry box away from the table to get their attention. "I demand to be heard!" she yells, but the yell dissolves into a laugh. Beca grins at how Chloe will try (and fail) imitate Aubrey's fierce, no nonsense leadership style. It never works. It's not her. Chloe is just too peppy and happy and friendly. But she still gets everyone's respect because she works her ass off and understands everyone doesn't learn the same way or at the same pace and takes that into account during practices. Not because she instills the fear of the Lord into the singers.

 _"Maybe she could work as a motivational coach after graduation,"_ Beca thinks. She's a bit worried for Chloe, considering the girl doesn't have a coherent plan for post grad, real, non-Bella related life. And she knows it's not exactly her place, but Chlo's been her best friend for nearly two years now, so of course Beca wants her to be happy and successful.

Chloe's subsequent threat to throw the fry container in the trash got everyone's attention. "Okay, we have a surprise planned. And by we, I mean legacy and I. C'mere, Em!" The freshman joins Chloe on the couch, and with how they're squeezed together close, they practically look like siblings. But Chloe looks like that with plenty of girls. She puts everyone at ease with her smile, and Beca's thinking back to her own audition, and how she was happy no one noticed her hands were shaking as she flipped her cup because she gets really nervous when gorgeous girls with bright blue eyes smile at her like they think she can do anything.

Or, you know, she was probably nervous because she wanted to make the Bellas. That definitely triggered her reaction.

She gets pulled back in by the words "vote on it" and raises her hand. She hears a "hell yeah" from Fat Amy and grins. While Beca doesn't wanna look like she cares about the aca-dorks too too much and kill her "I'm an unemotional badass" vibe, she doesn't wanna ruin their fun either.

Chloe claps her hands. "Alright, glad you're all on board with the plan. We'll be heading out for the amusement park around 9 tomorrow, and since we're taking a bus, you're S.O.L. if you're late. So get to bed soon!"

"A-a-musement park?" Beca stutters, her tone implying they may have just as well voted to go play catch with a bee's nest.

"Yeah…you know, the thing you just voted to go do," Chloe answers, smirking.

"I didn't know we were deciding to go to an amusement park!" Beca protests.

Emily laughs. "How exactly did you miss that?"

Beca shrugs. "I was…tired, and zoned out." Not daydreaming about Chloe. Definitely not doing that.

"Someone got too turnt," Chloe jokes. "DJ Mitchell gettin crunk up in dis bitch!"

"No, seriously, though, can we not go? I really don't like roller coasters." Beca hates the nasally whine in her voice, the way she's twisting her hands around each other, but she seriously does _not_ like roller coasters. "It's like…you're trusting metal and plastic and wood and all that stuff to not break and send you to your death. And the people that operate these death traps are like fifteen!"

Chloe motions for her to calm down with a hand. "Chill, Becs. Breathe in, breathe out."

Beca complies, but can't help but laugh at the irony of Chloe Beale telling someone to calm down.

"You don't have to go on the scary rides," Chloe continues. "I'll be your ride buddy for whatever you do want to go on." She gives Beca a small smile and squeezes her hand and Beca wonders (as she does nearly every day) how she got lucky enough to have Chloe as a friend. The girl is everything Beca's not: optimistic, compassionate, bubbly. And she never makes you feel bad for being different or weak.

Beca squeezes her hand and returns the smile. "Thanks. I can't really stay here by myself all day, can I?"

And Beca knows she's been changing, but maybe being a wee bit drunk brought on some extra clarity. About a year ago, she would've been more than happy to hole up in her dorm with her laptop, charger, and headphones and make mixes or just goof off on the Internet. Now? Well, weird as it is for someone in college to say, she's gotten used to having friends.

"No way, girlfran!" Stacie calls out.

Beca sighs. She'd like to at least sort of keep up the illusion that she can say no to Chloe and some of her random plans, but really, as soon as the redhead offered to be her ride buddy, she was a goner.

"Alright, I'm in. But if anyone wakes me up before 7:30 tomorrow, they'd better watch their back." Beca tries to inject a steely stare into her threat, but she's yawning too much for it to be effective, so she makes her way upstairs to get rested up for the next day's adventures.

 _ ***The next day***_

Beca actually woke up around 7:35 to her alarm blaring "Holiday" by Green Day. An appropriate choice, given her plans.

She threw on a pair of athletic shorts and a t-shirt, then called Jesse, hoping she wouldn't wake him.

Voicemail. _"Hey, it's Jesse. I can't reach my phone right now, but if you leave a message, I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks."_

"Hey, Jesse, it's me. I just wanted to let you know we—like, all the Bellas—are going to a theme park today. Six Flags. Chloe and Emily kinda came up with the idea of a last minute, quick vacation. We wanted to have some fun since we haven't had a day off in a while. Anyway, I might not have my phone on me too much today, just wanted to let you know. Sleep well, catch you later. I love you. Bye."

Guilt assuages Beca as she hangs up. Yes, she called Jesse because she wants to let him know what's going on with her day and not let him worry if she didn't text back at all while she and the girls were at the park. But she also wanted a reason to avoid having her phone on her 24/7. Jesse has a tendency to text her non-stop, and she doesn't really see the need for it. After all, they talk nearly every night when they don't have sleepovers, unless one of them is too exhausted or out late, and a lot of his texts are just the sappy "I miss you" type messages that litter the vast majority of painfully dull, contrived rom-coms.

Another wave of guilt hits when she realizes she and Chloe talk all the time too—through texting, Snapchat, or Instagram—and it's hardly a bother. Yeah, some of it is Bella related stuff. But also, Chloe's just…not funnier than Jesse, that's not the right word or comparison. But Beca appreciates her best friend's sense of humor, what she finds interesting. Like how she people-watches at the mall when she's home visiting her family and updates Beca with backstories of elderly couples and rowdy teenagers and the one creepy guy who always seems to be near the Auntie Anne's pretzel station, much to Chloe's dismay, because she'd like to enjoy a cheesy pretzel in peace, thank you very much. Or the way Chloe always includes little artsy doodles in her Snapchats, and Beca has to find them and figure out how they relate to the picture.

She stumbles downstairs, warns Emily and a couple of the younger Bellas that "when you get to be my age, getting up early ain't as easy as it used to be."

Chloe then pops in the back door, holding a coffee tote in one hand and a cooler filled with water bottles in the other, wearing a white Atlanta Falcons t-shirt and red shorts.

"What were you saying, Becs?" Chloe trills, and the younger girls bust out laughing because the contrast between the co-caps plays out beautifully sometimes.

"That you look like you could be a cheerleader for the Falcons," the brunette responds.

Beca has no filter before she wakes up and has coffee in her system, so she's not responsible for what she says. But really, Chloe is pretty enough to be a cheerleader. That's just an objective statement, not necessarily a flirty line. Though it sounds like something a scumbag would say to get in Chloe's pants. She grabs one of the drinks, but Chloe stops her and says, "Here, this one's for you," and hands her a different cup. This one has half a packet of sugar to cut the black coffee, just how Beca likes it.

She lifts her cup in a "thank you" gesture and says, "You da man, dude" as she plops down on a chair and takes a sip, failing to notice that her earlier compliment left Chloe dumbstruck.

The redhead's smile droops for a hot second (just once, could Beca be less oblivious than the average inanimate object?) but she brings it back as the rest of the Bellas trudge in, most of them yawning.

Chloe has them do a supply check—sunscreen, water, snacks, bathing suits for the water park—until Fat Amy jokingly yells, "Shut up, Mom, I'll do what I want!"

After everything is relatively under control—chaos and the Bellas are in a long term relationship, no doubt—they climb aboard the bus.

"Next stop, Six Flags over Georgia!" the driver announces.

Beca, of course, heads to the back of the bus to crash, and is one of the first to conk out on the 1.5 hour ride despite her coffee. Cynthia Rose takes advantage of the brunette's catatonic sleep pattern to snap a few goofy pictures.

"Ooh, send 'em to me!" Chloe shouts from a few rows ahead of them. "I can use embarrassing pictures to blackmail Beca into buying me Taco Bell or Starbucks!"

"Beale, you're thinking too small here, thinking about getting food. You realize if you asked Mitchell to bring you the moon—didn't even blackmail her, just straight up asked—she'd be off to NASA before you could blink, right?" CR replied.

"No, she wouldn't. I doubt she'd even do something like that for Jesse." Chloe tries to brush off CR's idea, but she can't, and she kinda hates herself for it. Because she knows all too well that Beca is quite straight, quite happy with Jesse, and quite (okay, completely) unlikely to suddenly wake up one day and reciprocate Chloe's feelings.

"You're right, she wouldn't do something like that for Jesse. Cause Jesse's not you."

Chloe couldn't help but smile at CR's attempt to cheer her up as she drifted off to sleep herself.

* _ **At the park**_ *

"Keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times," a bored voice drones. "Do not unbuckle your seat belt until the ride comes to a complete stop. Have a fun-tastic day here at Six Flags over Georgia, and enjoy your ride on the Weightless Wonder."

"You sure you wanna come on this one, Becs?" Chloe asks. "You can sit it out if you want."

"Sure," the brunette nods, more to herself than her designated ride buddy, as they approach seats five and six. "I mean, if a horde of tweens can handle it, I should be fine, right?"

"Absolutely," Chloe agrees as they clamber into the blue and white plastic chairs.

"But can I still hold your hand?" Beca spits out the words as fast as possible, then winces. She is pathetic, and she's gonna ruin Chloe's and everyone else's day by being a wuss, and…

And suddenly Chloe's fingers are intertwined with hers, and maybe this won't be so bad after all.

"It's just a swing," Chloe reassures her with a tiny smile. The attendant makes sure everyone is fastened in properly. "See, we're safe. We're good. You got this."

"Yeah. Plus it's only got an excitement rating of 5, so it can't be too bad, even though it goes pretty high up."

The color drains out of Chloe's face, leaving it blanched whiter than her t-shirt.

"You ok?" Beca asks, her brow furrowed in suspicion.

"Yeah, totally, totally fine. For sure, positive," Chloe nods hurriedly.

Beca glances over at Stacie, who's in the next pair of seats with Amy. "Is Beale not telling me something?"

The ride creaks back and forth slowly, barely leaving the ground. Stacie cringes. "The excitement scale isn't out of 10. It's out of 5."

Beca snaps her head back toward Chloe so fast she nearly gets whiplash. "WHAT?!"

"Just hold on, Becs, just keep holding my hand," Chloe answers with the patience and serenity of an older sister.

"O-ok, that wasn't so bad." Beca laughs nervously as the first larger swing occurs, sending butterflies into her stomach. "Whoaaa, ok, and we're higher up n-" and the wind slams the rest of the sentence back into her throat.

"WOO-HOOO!" Chloe whoops. Beca smiles at the redhead's laugh/yell, and despite her distress, she can't help but grin at Chloe's obvious joy.

"Take in the view, you can stare at me whenever you want!" Chloe yells over the cacophony of cries and wild screams.

And of course, Beca takes Chloe's advice. Because for some stupid reason, she can't just _ignore_ Chloe Beale, even when evidence suggests it would be the best course of action. That's a foreign concept.

And, hey, she does have a good view. Of the pavement. Because they're practically _upside fucking down_ in the air, secured only by plastic and the hope that this thing doesn't break.

Then the thing starts dropping, and Beca clenches Chloe's hand even tighter and screams bloody murder.

When the ride comes to a stop, Beca's pretty sure she nearly had at least two heart attacks, and she's rattling the ride restraints like a monkey in a cage.

"Little girl, you cannot get off the ride until it stops moving," the attendant huffs.

"Who are you calling a little girl?!" Beca snaps, and Chloe cracks up at her very justified indignation.

They walk away—or rather, Amy and Stacie help drag Beca away since her legs, in her words, "turned to fucking jello."

"I'm sorry, Becs," Chloe says, trying to keep a straight face. But she can't. "I'm sorry, again, really, but your face was too hysterical. You looked more constipated than that time you ate 3 tacos and a quesadilla for dinner after finals last year!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm glad my suffering can amuse you, Benedict Arnold," Beca growls, but it's hard to take her ferocity seriously when she's slumped on a park bench.

"Look, we can take a break."

"We were on a break!" the brunette exclaims, quoting Ross from _Friends,_ cause she's weird and likes dropping random pop culture references in convos. She gives a patented half smile to her Bellas, and just like that, everything is ok.

Chloe's not sure how she and Beca can resolve arguments so easily—literally, all it takes is a stupid joke from one of them after a sincere apology, or at least an attempt at one, and they're good—but she's not gonna question it (even though it doesn't make sense because Beca can act like a moody teenager a lot).

Amy, CR, and Stacie depart for a bungee jump platform after Chloe yells at them to meet in the food court in half an hour so she makes sure no one's gone missing, then turns to address a still slightly dour Beca Mitchell.

"Whaddaya wanna do, ride buddy?" she asks.

"Dunno, we can wander around a bit."

The wandering lasts for about five minutes, with the two of them making up backstories for kids and park employees as they go, and Beca can't help but wonder how Chloe never seems to go on many dates. She's a blast to hang out with, witty, hilarious, up for nearly anything. Not to mention, if Beca were a guy, she'd definitely appreciate Chloe's looks. Not that she doesn't now, but she can admit that her best friend is beautiful without popping a high key toner over her.

It's a good thing for Chloe they had to stop walking with their arms linked to fit through crowded walkways because when Beca sees the bumper car station, she flips her shit _._

"Let's go, let's go!" Beca snatches at Chloe's hand blindly, grabs it, starts running. Given how short she is, she looks about 14 with the added enthusiasm, but she doesn't care at all.

"Alright, bumper cars it is," Chloe laughs.

Beca picks a dark purple car, while Chloe gets a blue one. She looks down at the combo of colors between her shirt, shorts, and the vehicle, then yells, "I ride for 'Merica!"

Beca snorts, starts to reply back, "You're a dork," but gets cut off by some douchenozzle yelling, "Would you ride for me?"

Chloe rolls her eyes, and Beca remembers why she doesn't go on so many dates. Not that she hasn't hooked up with a few guys here or there, but…well, when you only want one thing from a woman, you won't treat her that spectacularly.

Beca doesn't like it when people mistreat her Chloe. Not that she's saying Chloe is "hers" like they're _together_ or anything like that, but you've gotta back your best friend up and make sure creeps know to stay away, cause if Chloe has a fault, it's not being direct with tools like this one in the "Como estas, bitches?" wife-beater.

So it surprises Beca when the redhead pulls up to her before the attendant says to stop moving the vehicles. "Whaddaya say to having some fun with that guy?" She jerks her head over to the catcaller, who's now whispering to one of his buddies. "I have an idea. Just pull up alongside him when I'm next to him, heading straight at the back middle wall."

"Well, that kinda would derail my plan of bumping into you a lot…" Beca pretends to consider turning her down, and Chloe pouts even though she doesn't need to cause she knows Beca will go along with her plan, and it's adorable. "Let's do it."

Chloe breaks out a wicked grin, says, "You rock, like hardcore rock," and waves as she speeds away. Obviously, that sequence of events—along with the fact that Chloe being devious is inevitably fantastic—played no part in Beca accidentally hitting the brake instead of the gas, causing her to smash into the front of a little kid's car.

"Sorry!" God, she's a horrendous driver on any surface.

After exchanging a few blows with various drivers, she and Chloe end up "randomly" flanking their target.

Chlo leans over, showing off a bit of cleavage but still driving straight. Beca tries to look seductive, too, but Chloe's sorta distracting her along with the guy. She says, "Hey, my friend and I just wanted to tell you…" Chloe flutters her eyelashes, gives a devilish smile, then peels away to the left in a sharp turn while yelling, "Look out for the wall!"

The guy slams headfirst into the wall, and yeah, it's padded as all hell, but still must hurt. Beca had braked hard well before he did, and now gives him a pretty solid love tap for good measure. She eventually turns around and gets back into the scrum, looking for Chloe, but she finds her by her laugh. It's fucking loud, and infectious, and really, it fits Chloe perfectly.

She lets out a whoop as Beca passes by in the opposite direction, reaches out to give her a high five, and yells, "Fuck yeah, Mitchell, that's how we roll! Don't mess with these aca-bitches!"

"Chloe, quit swearing, you're gonna get us kicked out!"

But it doesn't matter, as their turn in the bumper car station comes to a close in about another minute, and Chloe helps Beca clamber out of her car—throwing in a height joke, obviously—and they keep holding hands as they figure out where to go next.

Chloe knows she should quit initiating contact with Beca, but Beca's tracing her thumb along her palm and wrist. Even though she's probably only doing it to keep guys from hitting on her, Chloe doesn't want it—feeling like they're together, in some way, any way—to stop.

 _ ***In line***_

"How the fuck did you all convince me to get on a roller coaster called The Grim Reaper?" Beca groans for what has to be the sixth time since the Bellas all entered the line about twenty minutes ago. "It has loops! And a corkscrew! And a big drop!"

"Yay, Beca's not blind!" Emily cheers.

"Shut up, legacy," Beca mutters, but she grins at the kid's snark despite herself. Pretty reminiscent of her own days as a freshman, to be honest.

"Plus YOU pointed this beauty of a coaster out to all of us," Amy noted.

"Yeah, so YOU ALL could ride it. You all does not include me!" Beca screeches.

"Look, the anticipation is worse than the actual ride," Chloe argues. "Were you feeling nervous before your Bella audition?"

"Duh, no, I'm awesome." Chloe stares her down. "Okay, I was a little nervous, for like 5 minutes during the walk over to the auditorium."

"And how long did it take you to perform your song?"

"Like a minute."

"And that's like how long this roller coaster ride will be. You'll be fine, Becs."

Beca wants to hug her, partially out of gratitude and partially because Chloe Beale hugs are the shit. Not that she'd ever admit that to Chloe, because badasses don't want hugs, obviously.

Badasses also aren't scared of roller coasters, Beca reminds herself. No way, no how.

Okay, this particular badass is.

Luckily, the Bellas get an entire car to themselves. Chloe drags Beca to the middle car, makes a grand presentation, and says, "Take your seat, m'lady."

Beca rolls her eyes—like, harder than usual. "You're so weird, Chlo."

"But I know the best place to sit in a coaster. See, now we're not gonna go over first, but we aren't gonna get dragged over the drop like when you're in the back. So you'll have to just deal with having a weird ride buddy, cause I know my shit."

As everyone gets situated, Fat Amy calls out, "Hey, know what we should do? Can we like, sing something and try to time it to hit the drop as we start to drop?"

"Sure!" the Bellas chorus.

Amy starts humming a ditty not many of them recognize, then starts singing, " _I could watch you for a lifetime/You're my favorite movie/A thousand endings/You mean everything to me/I never know what's comin'/Forever fascinated/Hope you don't stop runnin'/To me 'cause I'll always be waitin'."_ Finally, the train starts moving, and Beca finds Chloe's hand again.

"Just focus on the music, Becs. And check out that view!" The lake is in the distance, but to see it, Beca has to focus her gaze away from Chloe's face, which is no easy task, especially when her eyes are practically the same color as the water.

But, y'know, whatever, lots of people have pretty eyes, Chloe's aren't the only ones she admires. She just sees Chloe more often than those other people with nice eyes.

They continue the steep uphill climb, approaching the end of the first verse: _"You are a cinema/I could watch you forever/Action, thriller, I could watch you forever/You are a cinema/A Hollywood treasure/Love you just the way you are/A cinema…my cinema/A…"_

Chloe starts raising her hands, and Beca follows suit, since they're nearly about to drop over the edge. Cause that's what you do on a roller coaster, duh, Chloe thinks to herself. You put your hands up. You don't use them to pull your best friend into a kiss you've been wanting for at least three quarters of a year.

Beca misses the fact that Chloe doesn't give a joyful cry on the first drop, but then again, her stomach feels like it's getting slammed down to her shoes and trying to eject itself out of her throat simultaneously, so it's kinda hard to blame her.

Chloe squashes the disappointment again, since having Beca Mitchell in her life is better than having no Beca at all, so she snaps back to reality, and yes, there's no gravity. She disobeys her own advice and stares at Becs instead of the view—she's not gonna notice in this setting.

Case in point: "Oh my GOD!" Beca yells, then shuts her eyes while emitting a noise like a pterodactyl screech on the first double corkscrew.

"Doing okay?" Chloe shouts back, or rather chokes back. Trying to talk while laughing doesn't work too well.

"Ye-whoaaaa!" They careen through a dark tunnel and bank into a sharp turn over a water geyser that drenches Chloe.

"Shit shit shit that's ice cold!" she shrieks, and she hears Beca's laugh over everything else, then stares in disbelief: her ride buddy didn't suffer at all.

"How are you not wet, bitch?!"

"I'm not a ginger, I have a soul! The ride spared me!" Beca crows triumphantly.

"So I'm totally within my bounds to do this, since I'm a soulless heathen, then," Chloe smirks, then shakes out her hair like a wet, shaggy dog, pelting Beca with water droplets.

"You're the worst, Beale!"

Chloe sticks her tongue out. "Oh, shut it, you love me."

Beca lets out a mighty sigh. "You're alright, I guess, most of the time." _Especially when your clothes are soaked through,_ she thinks, then yells at herself for having such a weird brain that thinks of such ridiculous things.


	3. Where's the Bus?

Beca calls the bus company around 6:30, and the manager at the depot says a bus will arrive at the theme park by 8 or 8:15.

It's going on 9, and she's pissed and tired and very much wanting to leave, and the bus still hasn't arrived.

"At least we're in America and not Copenhagen," she tells herself and the Bellas.

Being best friends with Chloe means that, yes, Beca can sometimes dredge up bits of positivity when the need arises.

"Where is the stupid bus?" Flo groans.

"Really, this is not cool," Stacie pouts. "I don't wanna be stuck here, I thought I was gonna get some tonight…"

"Stacie, you think you're gonna get some _every_ night," Cynthia Rose chimes in, and no one can keep a straight face at that line.

"Hey, don't corrupt Emily, she's still innocent," Chloe calls out.

Emily blushes. "I'm not that innocent. Benji and I have like, made out and stuff."

Stacie grins, and for once, it doesn't look predatory. "Aww! Young love is precious. Also, if you and Benji do…more stuff, and you want some advice…"

Emily blushes harder and stutters something incoherent.

"Don't pressure her into anything, Stace," Beca warns, separating the younger girl from the older one.

"I'm just offering up my vast expanse of knowledge," Stacie argues, then backs down when Beca snaps her head down and to the side a bit. Aubrey termed that her "fuck off face" about two weeks after Beca had gotten initiated. "Okay, Em, sorry for making you uncomfortable. I just don't want you to get hurt, or do anything without realizing what you're getting into, alright?"

"I know," Emily nods. "Thanks. And I don't think I'll need any of your advice for a decent bit of time. But there's…actually, forget it, it's kinda mean."

"Oh, c'mon, you can tell us. Being with Bellas is like being in Vegas, we don't give up secrets unless we're under threat of death," Stacie answers.

"Well, ok." Emily blushes again, and it's selfish, but Beca's kinda glad she's no longer the only socially awkward Bella. "It's just…sometimes when Benji and I are making out, he tries to, like, eat my face, and it's kinda not so great."

Stacie sighs. "Guys are horn-dogs. They sometimes get too eager."

Beca laughs. "Like you can talk."

"Yeah, well, at least I don't suck face!" she laughs back. "Look, legacy, you gotta be direct with guys, but in a flattering way. Like, convince Benji _he'll_ prefer kissing the way youwanna kiss."

Emily frowns. "But…the point is for me to like it more."

Stacie grins and nods. "Exactly. But guys are dumb and hormonal sometimes, and they usually respond well to thinking they'll get more pleasure from activities."

"Ohh. Gotcha. Thanks."

Stacie winks. "No problem. I got your back, kid." She glances around the rest of the Bellas and grins again. "Y'know, I know you all have heard more than enough of my sexual exploits. I kinda wanna hear some news from the rest of my singing sisters. Nothing too crazy!" she adds. "We can keep it like, PG or PG-13. How about…worst and best kiss stories?"

"Ugh, this is like the middle school sleepovers I never went to," Beca groans.

"You were depr…destined to deal with this eventually!" Chloe declares.

Her statement—or more specifically, what she omitted from that statement—means more to Beca than she lets on as she makes a big show of being relieved that Stacie picked someone else to be her first victim.

Beca doesn't like being reminded of how weird she was as a teenager, or how she shut people out when her parents' relationship went to hell, or how her "friends" were people she talked to at school, and never saw anywhere else. And Chloe recognizes that, and once again, Beca's at a loss to explain how she's best friends with someone that sensitive. It's no secret that Beca kinda sucks at feelings—dealing with them in herself, with other people—but she's getting better. Like, she'd rate herself slightly below average at responding to emotions now, which is a vast improvement over her teenage years. Don't make her comfort anyone engaging in any kind of tear shedding, though.

She hears "koala" and of course Amy has an absolutely ridiculous Aussie story going.

"So I'm making out with this sorta burly guy in a very grassy forest type area, right, and he's kinda a shitty kisser, and a koala bear springs from a tree onto his back and latches on to him. The guy freaks out and I'm like, dude, it's just a koala bear, calm your man boobs, but he's all, oh shit get it off! And I'm like, nah, this has been fun but I'm just gonna let you make friends with the bear, later. And that is how my worst kiss got ended by a little furry koala."

"Anyone else have a kiss ended by an animal? No? Well, as usual, Amy, your story takes the cake," Stacie laughs.

"Forget the cake, my stories take the whole damn bakery," the boisterous blonde boasts.

Stacie steeples her fingers together, then cracks her knuckles. "Hmm…who to pick next…" She whirls around. "You're up, cap'n!"

"Fuckin nympho pirate," Beca mutters. "Hmm, worst kiss ever. I was fourteen, it was with Chad Holbrook—"

"Eww, who names their kid Chad?" Stacie interjects. "That's like, asking for him to be a douche."

"He wasn't that bad, just a lousy kisser," Beca shrugged. "Or rather a lousy maker-outer. Is that the proper term, Stace?"

"Eh, we'll go with it."

"Anyway, he was actually an okay kisser. He was my first kiss, in the gym after school one day, luckily no one was there. But when we made out…" Beca winces. "He'd just kinda leave his tongue in my mouth and not do anything with it. Aca-awkward."

"I'd give that story a 4 out of 10. Not that traumatic of a kiss," Stacie announces. "And the best? It's gotta be Jesse, right?"

Beca shrugs. "I mean, duh. I can't like pick any one kiss in particular that's hands down the best. They're all pretty damn great." She's willing to admit to having a toner for Jesse cause he _is_ pretty damn attractive, obvs.

Chloe tilts her head. "Does he make you feel like…uhh…" she balls her hands into little fists and then spreads them out while making a "pop" sound with her mouth.

Beca quirks her eyebrow, and Chloe can't help but grin at her cute confusion. "Is that supposed to represent spontaneous combustion, Chlo?"

"No, I dunno," Chloe half sighs, half laughs. "It's just, this is gonna sound mad lame, but I'd always want butterflies and fireworks."

"Of course you would, cause you're more romantic," Beca points out. "And I do get those a lot, but like, it's not an every single time thing? I guess? Like sometimes when we just did a quick peck before one of us went to class or work, that's not such a big deal."

"Well, whenever I find my Mr. or Miss Right, I always want kisses to be meaningful, even if they're quick," the redhead declares, batting her eyelashes.

"Okay, Beale." Beca can't help but roll her eyes, cause she does usually love how Chloe tries to find the bright side in literally everything. Like, if Chloe turned into an ogre the way Fiona did in _Shrek,_ you could bet she'd be talking about how being an ogre princess would help her scare creepers away from girls, or something like that. But at the same time, Beca occasionally (about once a month or so, give or take) wants to hit her with a tiny, microscopic dose of pessimism and make Chloe Beale 1 or 2% more normal. Actually, considering it's Chloe she's talking about, making her even .02% more normal could throw the entire universe into chaos.

"Sorry for wanting to show affection for my future significant other," Chloe snaps, mimicking Beca's eye roll.

"What's your problem, dude?"

"Nothing, it just…forget it, I'm being rude."

"Chlo, talk to me, please." Wow, Beca Mitchell just invitedanother human to open up to her. #Miracle.

"What works for you and Jesse probably wouldn't work for me in a relationship." It's a bit of a paradoxical statement, cryptic and simple at the same time. Beca doesn't think it's that horrible of a thing to say, but Chloe looks sort of morose about it, as if she's disgusted with herself. And having an upset Chloe on her hands is about as fun as not seeing red pandas at the zoo, so yeah, she's gonna try to console the ninja ginger.

She gives her best friend an awkward, although well intentioned, pat on the shoulder. "It's fine, dude. We're different people. You do me, I'll do you."

 _Fuck,_ that came out so very wrong.

"OH M-" Beca clamps her hand over Chloe's mouth before she can finish yelling what is, no doubt, an inappropriate sentence, but still manages a small smile. "I _meant,_ you do you, I'll do me. There's no like, perfect or textbook way to be with someone. So, like, chill, please."

Chloe nods, since Beca's hand is still over her mouth. She takes it away.

"You know I'm gonna use that line against you at some point, right?"

Beca just groans in response and mutters, "It's a good thing I like you or else I'd be tempted to punch your dumb, smug face, Beale."

At last, the bus arrives, to several cheers from a happy and tuckered out crew.

Beca remembers to turn her phone's alarm off just before she goes to bed and realizes she forgot to text Jesse.

"Shit." She hits his speed dial number. "C'mon, pick up, pick up."

He answers with a yawn. "Sup, Becaw."

"Hey, you. Sorry I missed your texts earlier, we got stuck at the park late and my phone lost its charge, we just got back like five minutes ago."

"Yeah, no problem, 's all good. Hopefully you didn't get dragged on too many crazy rides?" he asks.

"Actually, I earned the distinction of becoming…" she mutes the episode of _Friends_ Chloe is watching, much to the ginger's dismay. "What did you call me at the park, Chlo?"

She's overtired, which leads to ridiculousness, so Beca's not surprised when she swipes the phone away from Beca and yells, "Your girlfriend is a ride warrior, Jesse! She earned major respect today."

He laughs as the phone gets passed back to its owner. "I thought you didn't like scary rides?"

"Well, you know how Chloe gets when she wants you to do something. Very annoying and insistent." She winks at the redhead, who answers, "I think persuasive is a better term."

Beca sticks her tongue out. "To-may-toe, to-mah-toe."

"Beca?"

Oh yeah, she's still talking to Jesse. "Yeah, dude?"

"We still on for lunch tomorrow?"

"Uhh…can it be a late lunch?"

He laughs. "Sure thing, lazy bones. Maybe watch a movie after?"

Beca facepalms. Chloe gives her a sympathetic look and mouths, " _Movie date?_ "

She nods, and Chloe turns two of her fingers into legs, pantomiming a walking motion, then throws her hands up.

Beca cocks her head, silently asking, _"Go for a walk? Do anything else?"_

Thumbs up.

Beca snorts. Her dislike of movie night is well documented, and Chloe's solution isn't exactly the most eloquent, nor is it super respectful of Jesse's love for the cinema, but it's so…so Chloe Beale. Even when she's not talking, she's lively, animated. That's why Beca loves her more than movies. You _know_ what's going to happen, or can at least guess at plot and character development. Chloe's a wild card.

"You still there, Becs?" Jesse asks.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Chloe's considering being a mime after she graduates, I think, so she's working on her skills, and it's pretty funny. Uhh, what kinda food were you thinking?"

"Maybe try the new Mongolian Barbeque out by my place?" he suggests.

"Yeah, that would be nice," she smiles, then adds, "Is there a mall out in your neck of Atlanta? Like, I mean I know there has to be one, but one nearby, cause then maybe we could do ice cream or something."

"Mmhmm. So, lunch and ice cream, then movie time?"

"Sure," Beca answers, trying to inject some enthusiasm into her voice. She should be more excited to see Jesse, but really, they're hardly that far away. It takes about an hour for Beca to get from Barden to his apartment. Plus, most of their dates involve food and/or movies, so it's not like anything earth shattering will happen tomorrow.

"Alright, aca-awesome."

"God, please stop using 'aca' in front of words, dude," Beca laughs half-jokingly. Like, it's just not that funny, or cute.

"You can take the boy out of the Trebles, but you can't take the Treble outta the boy," Jesse teases. "Ok, I'm bout to hit the hay. Night, Becs. I love you."

"Love you too, Jes."

She can feel Chloe's eyes on her and just knows the redhead is wearing her smug, shit eating grin.

"So, what movie are you gonna watch?" she asks, feigning interest. "Cause I know you _love_ movie night oh so much," she drawls.

Beca whacks her with a pillow. "Shut up, Beale."

"Oh, you do not wanna get into a pillow fight with me, Mitchell," Chloe warns. "I've had ample time to perfect my ability."

"Duh, you've been here long enough," Beca teases.

And suddenly Chloe goes cold, pops up off the bed, and says, "I know you wanna get your beauty sleep, so I'll let you go. Night, Beca."

She frowns. "Good night, Chlo?" She hates that Chloe can turn her into this anti-Beca, caring, teddy bear of a person, one who actively tries to avoid upsetting people and sort of wants to fix up her mistakes.

And maybe Chloe hears her concern, since she shoots Beca a half smile before asking, "Wanna get Starbucks tomorrow morning? My treat since you humored me and were so good at the amusement park."

"I'm always a slut for free Starbucks!"

Chloe shakes her head. "Night, weirdo."

"Night, Red." And with that, Beca flopped over onto her stomach, ready to finally get a full eight hours of sleep.


	4. Breakfast and Lunch

Beca wakes up to "Titanium" blasting. She reaches blindly at her nightstand and bumps the iPhone off of her charging dock.

"Dammit." She rolls out of bed with the grace of a drunken goat, retrieves it, answers the call.

"Hi, Beca! Sorry I couldn't grace you with my presence, but I'm cleaning out my car right now, and I wanna leave within the hour for Bucks, so I figured waking you up now would be a good plan. That's enough time for you to get ready, right?"

She can hear Chloe's smirk through the phone. Waking up early is a distinct weakness for Beca. Like, normally, she can't even detect sarcasm, or really, any part of human life outside of her morning suffering. Well, other than sometimes hearing Amy having morning sex with Bumper, which is a pretty gross thing to consider, so she redirects her attention to Chloe, and can't help but smile at the ginger's sass.

Who ever said Beca Mitchell can't rub off on people?

"Yeah, s-s-sounds good, Chlo," she yawns, then stretches and mewls.

"Alright, see you at eleven at the latest," she beams—at least, that's what Beca assumes she does, based on her tone—and hangs up.

She stumbles into the shower with her eyes shut and doesn't flip the lights on cause it's like getting another ten minutes of sleep. Sort of cold, wet sleep, but sleep nonetheless.

Okay, it's faux sleep that's interrupted by thoughts about Chloe Beale. But that's hardly Beca's fault, considering Chloe interrupted the first shower she'd taken at Barden and asked her to sing "Titanium" with the casual tone one would use in asking a classmate for an extra pen.

Beca actually forces herself to take a quick shower for once (she's gonna miss not paying for water once she moves out of the Bella house) since she has a date with Jesse later, and wants to _do_ her makeup. Aka, put on more than her usual dark eyeliner and dark lipstick and a hint of blush. She then throws on a faded, ripped pair of jean shorts she knows Jesse likes, since they accentuate what little ass she has, and matches it with a purple, long sleeved top since it's still only early April.

She makes her way downstairs and sees Chloe walking in the front door, framed by sunlight, and it's not even fair that her best friend is so consistently gorgeous. She's not even trying to look good right now, either. Her hair is up in a messy bun, a tiny bit slick with sweat. She's wearing a gray tank top and a pair of black basketball shorts she stole from Tom just before they broke up. None of it matters. She's easily the most beautiful Bella, or woman, or person, Beca's ever seen, and her full face smile is nearly too much for Beca to handle.

Chloe bobs her head and snaps. "Daaamn, Mitchell, you're lookin fly as shit!"

"You listened to rap while you were cleaning Travis out, didn't you?"

"Fo shizzle!"

Beca groans.

"Really, though, you're looking awesome, b-Becs." Yeah, calling Beca "babe" is not a good idea. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're trying to impress someone." Chloe sticks her tongue out.

"Were you always this weird, Beale, or did the stress of co-captaining with Aubrey melt your brain a little bit?" Despite the barb, she grins at Chloe's enthusiasm for pretty much everything from singing to washing the dishes. She's like a puppy. A super adorable puppy. Like the ones she watches on Vine. Not that she'd ever tell Chloe about that particular stress relieving activity.

"Obviously I'm weird enough to make you feel at home," Chloe quips as they head out to her car.

"Touché," Beca smiles back as they buckle up. Her expression clouds over, though, which causes Chloe's own smile to run away, too.

"What's up?"

Beca hates, _loathes,_ how much she sounds like Jesse, but her concern wins out. "You seemed kinda…distant last night, like just before I went to bed." She nearly retches, cause this whole being sympathetic or empathetic or whatever is just painfully cheesy and lame. But it's for Chloe, the girl who stayed up all night for her freshman year when her dumb ass ended up in jail for an evening.

Chloe tries not to stare, but Beca doesn't usually ask people to share their troubles with her, and if she's gonna start being even more caring than normal, Chloe's toner might become even more obvious.

She's really lucky that Beca misses a lot of signals—or, even if she does notice, just pretends not to. "It's just, when you said I've been here a while. It reminded me I'm planning on graduating, and I don't exactly have my shit together," Chloe sighs, and Beca wants to hug her, but (a) she's pretty terrible at giving hugs, and (b) they're in a moving vehicle.

"Chlo, you're gonna…whatever you do, you're gonna be awesome at it. You're Chloe fucking Beale, and the F is for phenomenal."

Chloe gives her a giant eye roll and a barely there grin. "You did not just quote Lil Wayne in an attempt to cheer me up! Plus, that didn't even make sense."

Beca shrugs. "I'm a dork."

Chloe barely bites back the words, _"You're my dork."_ Because some selfish, borderline insane part of Chloe's mind _does_ view Beca as hers. Aubrey Posen sure as fuck wouldn't hop in the shower and form a duet with a "pint sized punk" (her words) because said "punk" happened to have a lovely (ok, semi-angelic) singing voice. But it's not like Chloe can just say, "Hey, Becs, since I got you into the Bellas, please dump Jesse and date me, because I've been crazy about you for going on a year now." Though Beca would appreciate the lack of courting B.S. to that approach, probably.

Beca recycles a line from the previous day as the redhead beats out a red light to make a sketchy, tire squealing left turn. "Talk to me, Chlo. What are you thinking about doing after graduation?"

"Maybe trying to teach choir at a middle school, given my education background. Or I could try and get a Master's in literature but that's not really my passion, but at the same time, I've never been _that_ great at teaching, and what if I get a job and the kids don't respect me because I'm too young and then I mess up and-"

Beca puts a hand on her shoulder, hoping it will soothe her best friend. A hyper Chloe Beale is a terrifying enough thing to comfort when she's stationary, let alone driving a car. Luckily, though, the journey comes to a close with a slightly below average park job.

Chloe stays quiet once they're in line, but it's not an uncomfortable silence. She's just waiting to get drinks before she word vomits everywhere. It's just a little thing, but she recognizes Beca's not the best at handling sensitive topics, so she doesn't try to overwhelm her pretty little brunette head with too much info at once.

She does little things for a lot of people—like making sure Stacie doesn't run out of condoms, cause she does sometimes forget to buy them, or letting Lilly be her quiet self—but no one gets more of those little things than Beca, and it kind of terrifies Chloe that she can't (or won't) vocalize exactly why that is.

They make their way to one of the back tables, a favorite spot for its relative seclusion in such a tiny Starbucks, and Beca happily slurps her iced coffee.

"Certainly tastes better when it's free," she grins. "Thanks."

"Sure thing," Chloe nods absentmindedly. She's not distracted by her own thoughts quite so much anymore. Instead, the girl sitting across from her is doing quite well by just sipping on a fucking drink and smiling. The dark purple shirt makes Beca's pale-as-a-swan skin pop. And it's true, Chloe did struggle to decide what drink she wanted before settling on a vanilla mocha, so it made sense to let Beca cut in front of her. But…well, fuck it, she's practically shameless. It was hard to avoid noticing Beca's butt looked especially cute earlier and Chloe invented herself a little excuse to stare for a second.

She picks her eyes up off her drink and Beca's staring at her cause it's a gargantuan anomaly to have a quiet Chloe Beale on her hands for so long—like, nearly two minutes. Luckily, Chloe blurts out random stuff a lot, so Beca's beauty making her brain go dumb doesn't present too much of a problem.

"What would you do if you couldn't drink coffee?" she asks, and Beca grins, because this is probably her favorite version of the question game. Not that she'd tell Chloe that, like, ever. But somehow, no matter what direction their Q & A sessions take, Beca always possesses the same feeling when they end: she'd never do this goofy stuff with anyone but her best friend.

"Bad things. Like, make sure you've got lots of cash, cause you might need to bail me out of jail," Beca jokes.

Chloe dismisses her concerns with a hand wave. "Psssh. You in jail? Nbd. Been there, done that. Next question."

"If you were in jail, what nickname would you go by?" Beca answers, going along with the rules. Each question has to be at least tangentially related to the one before it.

"Hmm…I kinda like the name Vesper Lynn, from that one new-ish Bond chick, but I wouldn't wanna copy it outright. Gotta keep my own style." Chloe takes a sip of her cooling mocha, and then her eyes light up. "What about Vesper the Viper? Gorgeous, desired, and deadly."

Beca nearly spits out her drink at Chloe's expression, which is both regal and frightening…and sexy, but again, that's a totally objective delineation. If Beca ran into someone who didn't think Chloe was sexy, she'd assume they were either a gay man or a blind person. "Dude, you _had_ to have had that idea in your back pocket, not fair. Also, you look slightly too invested in the whole 'making a name for myself in jail' thing."

"Just channeling my inner rebel, Mitchell," she teases. "Something I figure you of all people could relate to."

"Hey, I'm not too bad anymore. Guess I'm softening up and becoming less of a bitter hag in my old age." Beca hesitates a beat, then adds softly, "Or it's because of you."  
"Is that a compliment from Beca Mitchell? Wow, thanks." Chloe offers her some sass, and can't help but laugh a little because here's Beca being all sweet and kind while Chloe answers it with snark. Talk about a parallel universe. But because Chloe Beale is nothing if not appreciative of her friends, she turns her smile up a few watts and says, "Seriously, Becs, I appreciate it a lot, coming from you."

Beca mutters "Thanks" and focuses on her drink because she sucks at accepting compliments and doesn't want Chloe to notice she's blushing. So instead, she drinks in the ambience of a small, college town Starbucks—something she might not get to do too much more often, at least from the perspective of a college kid.

Chloe says, "I'm gonna miss it too."

Beca blinks—she's still sometimes taken aback by how well Chloe reads her—then shakes her head and answers, "Yeah. When people tell you college flies by…" she laughs wistfully. "They weren't lying."

Chloe scoots her chair closer to Beca and mutters, "I'm scared of leaving, and I don't wanna be, but I am."

Beca has to resist putting an arm around the redhead to pull her into a one armed hug cause that would be mushy, and a tiny bit gay, and she's never really been one for PDA. But somehow, Chloe Beale causes all her rules to dissolve, because she _does_ wrap her arms around Chloe and puts a hand up to stroke her hair. That action, she does manage to stop, cause like…it's just too much. "Chloe, you're…" See, this is why she makes music, she _sucks_ at words, but she tries, cause Chloe needs the reassurance. "You're _you,_ okay? Like, you're going out and facing the real world after this year. That takes guts, dude! And you're smart and driven and no matter what you do, you're gonna crush it." She nearly adds, "I know you will" or "I believe in you" and rolls her eyes at herself because she is _way_ too young to already be turning into her father.

Chloe takes a deep, steadying breath to keep herself from burying her face in the crook of Beca's neck. She smiles, and her eyes have changed. Her pupils are dilated, she notices, in the reflection of Beca's eyes. "Thank you," she murmurs, then swallows. "I—I needed that." But she shouldn't need or want this, this intimacy with Beca. Because if she's being totally honest with herself—definitely one of Chloe's talents—then she's gonna have to admit something terrifying.

She just fell a little bit more in love with Beca Mitchell. And it sucks. Especially when Beca's phone starts ringing, and _of course_ "Don't You Forget About Me" is playing. It's probably Jesse calling to remind Beca about lunch.

"Hey, dude," she answers. "Yeah, I _know_ , Jesse, thanks for assuming I wouldn't remember a conversation from about twelve hours ago." She purses her lips. "No, it's just…like, I know we're on for lunch. You could've texted me see you later or something. I wasn't gonna blow you off, you dork." Beca's face brightens up a tad. "I know, I know it's just cause you care. I do appreciate such shows of affection from my boyfriend, I guess." She's still smiling, but she does take the phone away from her ear and mouths to Chloe, "He needs to chill sometimes."

Chloe stage whispers back, "Ask if he's on his period," and yeah, it's bitchy, and immature, but she doesn't care about that. She says it cause she knows it will make Beca laugh, and she doesn't know how many more times she'll get to see her do that, so she's gonna take every chance she can get.

Beca's eyes crinkle, and she does that little giggle that comes out when a full out belly laugh might be inappropriate. "Hey, Jess, Chloe wants to know if it's that time of the month for you." She grins, then says, "We're at Starbucks. She bought me a drink for being a ride warrior yesterday. Yes, she's just kidding about the period thing. All in good fun. Anyway, I'll see you in a bit, yeah. Mongolian Barbeque on Lee Road, right? Okay, cool. Love you too."

She turns to Chloe. "You good to go?"

"Actually…" She impulsively buys a s'mores tart, then says, "Okay, now I'm good to go. The Beale sweet tooth is strong." Chloe gets a look in her eye, the one Beca calls the "food porn" stare. "Becs, you know what we should do later?"

Beca taps her chin, pretending to be unsure of what to say. "Hmm…bake chocolate chip cookies and eat some of the leftover dough?"

"Yaaas," Chloe crows, nodding in approval and grinning.

"Okay, I can stop at a CVS or Walgreens or some shit on the way back from Jesse's to get cookie dough."

"No, no, no, no." Chloe wags her finger. "We're gonna bake these from scratch. There's a great recipe close to the one my mom makes that's on Pinterest."

That catches Beca's attention. Chloe nearly always brings some Mama Beale cookies back after going home for Christmas, and they're fan-fucking-tastic: perfectly crunchy, overloaded with chocolate chips, able to be dunked repeatedly in milk without falling apart. Mmmm.

"Okay then," Beca agrees, cause who in their right mind wouldn't want delicious cookies? "Let's check what ingredients we have when we get back and then we can form a shopping list off that before I leave?"

Chloe nods, then turns up the radio. She and Becs spend the rest of the drive jamming to "Watch Me" by Silento.

Chloe sighs at the massive disappointment that is their kitchen pantry and fridge. "Alright, so we need chocolate chips, both sweetened and unsweetened, sugar, milk, eggs, flour…"

"So basically everything?" Beca interrupts.

"More or less, yeah. How about I go shopping after I work on some more choreography stuff, and you can pay me back for half the stuff later?"

"Yeah, sure thing, dude," Beca answers, not really paying attention since she's texting Jesse. "Okay, gotta jet. Catch you later!"

As she pulls out of the driveway, Beca can't help but feel unsettled. Like, weird as it sounds, chilling with her best friend and helping with Bella planning seems like more of an obligation than spending time with her now semi-long-distant boyfriend. And she doesn't mean obligation in the negative sense of the word toward either Chloe or Jesse. But…then again, that feeling kinda is rational, because she _is_ one of the captains and hasn't spent too much time leading or mixing.

She tries to re-adjust her thoughts to Jesse, and succeeds after pushing away thoughts of how glad she was to help Chloe cheer up.

She finds parking easily enough in the Mongolian Barbeque parking lot, and, after spotting Jesse lingering in the doorway, gives him a giant bear hug.

"Becaw!" he grins as they kiss and step out of the way to let another couple into the restaurant.

"How are you doing, hon? How's _Future Vision Entertainment?_ " she asks with a teasing lilt as they make their way to the back of the restaurant to start crafting their barbeque bowls. She generally thinks Jesse works for a good company, but whoever named it should've been fired or at least demoted.

"Good, good. They've got me working on the musical score for a few episodes of the next season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," he answers as he gives his bowl a healthy amount of noodles, veggies, and shrimp.

Beca stops popping croutons into her mouth long enough to give him a high five. "Dude, that's awesome! I mean, I know it's not like a massive show, but considering you just started working there, that's seriously impressive!"

"Thanks. 'Preciate it, coming from my favorite Bella." He gives her a dopey grin, and she waits for his cheesy moment to pass by watching the chefs grill their food. "So how are things with you, Becs?"

She shrugs. "Pretty good. We won a Riff-Off against some of the competition we'll be facing at Worlds, so that was pretty sweet. My boss is still a bit uptight, but he's not horrible, and I think I should be able to stay on after graduation. Maybe not in L.A., but I've decided it's not the end of the world if I can't make it there."

"Cool, cool," Jesse nods as he slurps on a noodle. "How are the Bellas?"

She laughs. "Just as insane as ever. Chloe's going a bit nuts between trying to figure out what's going on next year for her and keeping us all ready for Worlds, and there's always the fear of waking up to Amy and Bumper doing stuff in my room, but besides those minor problems, everything's good."

"Find any rad touristy type activities in Atlanta?"

"Not too many things," he answered. "Although there is a massive Coke factory where they have a taste testing and tons of different potential flavors and things like that."

"Don't try to go and rob the place. I know how you are about Coke and popcorn," Beca teases.

"You know my weaknesses, woman. What would you do if I did try to do that?"

"Slap you until you realized you were gonna trade freedom for some crazy new pop flavor."

"Such a kind girlfriend, you are."

"The best, duh."

They finish up lunch, and Beca follows Jesse to the mall, where they're content to just wander around.

Well, until Beca remembers that Jesse—while he is sweet and nice, that's never been a question—likes to talk her ear off about television shows and movies. And truthfully, Beca's never been a huge fan of the silver screen. She watches Netflix, yeah, but she never has the time or commitment to finish shows or even watch them in order (other than _Friends,_ cause it's dope, and who doesn't like watching it to make fun of Ross Geller?). But they end up spending a lot of time in sort of awkward silence until Beca gets a snap from Chloe. She'd sent her the Family Guy clip of the Cookie Monster being addicted to chocolate chip cookie dough with the caption "This will be me later."

"Oh, shit, where's the doodle?" Beca focuses on various parts of the background until she finds a small drawing of a cookie jar on the kitchen table.

"What was that, Beca?" Jesse frowns, obviously confused.

She sends Chloe a selfie with the caption "Me too" then turns to ask Jesse, "Is there a grocery store in here?"

"Uhh…there's like a convenience store type place a little bit past the food court."

"Great! Chloe and I are making cookies later and I thought of something to add." Five minutes later, Beca's walking out of a mini CVS with two bags of Reese's Pieces.

After a bit more walking, they decide to bail out of the mall and go to Jesse's apartment.

"So, what movie are you up for?" he asks after making the usual bag of Orville Redenbacher popcorn.

"Uhh…how about the new Tron?" She watched the old version with her dad a while ago, and she does enjoy Jeff Bridges as an actor, so maybe it won't be so bad.

Jesse starts talking her ear off, though, and when he goes into painstaking detail to point out that they re-used a pinball machine from the extended edition of the original Tron that didn't get into the movie, she can't keep quiet.

"Dude, I know you love movie trivia and stuff, but I just wanna watch the movie." And Jesse looks a bit too much like a kicked puppy, so Beca kisses him to make up for it, or at least try to.

He sighs as Beca pulls out her phone a bit later. "What happened to watching the movie?" he asks pointedly.

"Sorry, Chloe texted me, and you know how she gets if she thinks I'm ignoring the Bellas, God forbid," she answers back, then puts her phone away. She's actually enjoying the movie when it comes with less of Jesse's non-stop commentary, but her phone buzzes again, and it's another snap from Chloe. Jesse lets out another muted frustrated noise when Beca swipes up on her iPhone. However, he's included in this tech moment. Chloe's beaming and the caption of her snap reads, "Hi to the lovebirds!"

Beca grabs Jesse to get him into the picture for a reply snap, but he ducks out of it.

"C'mon, dude, you gotta be in the picture," Beca urges him.

"I don't wanna, cause then you'll keep talking to Chloe," he mumbles.

Beca frowns. "Dude, it's one snap. Not that big a deal."

"Yeah, well, I say it is." He grabs Beca's hands and pauses the movie. "It feels like…it feels like Chloe never lets you get away from her. You guys have been hanging out a ton lately anyway, and you just saw her before you came over here, and she still has to talk to you?"

Beca shrugs. "This is how Chloe gets when she's bored. You kinda learn to deal with her."

"Can't you just tell her to leave you alone for a little bit?"

"Jesse, I don't…" and she ends that sentence prematurely. Saying she doesn't ask her loved ones to leave her alone sometimes would be a total lie. Cause sometimes Beca just can't deal with people, in case you missed that memo. But she's never had to ask Chloe for space, probably because Chloe might just have some crazy Beca Mitchell intuition wired into her brain. Like, when she got pissed off at Beca for _not_ freaking out so much after Fat Amy flashed Obama. Her attitude had gotten under Beca's skin, and she'd just lost herself in her mixes for a couple days to cool off. And after that, Chloe apologized for taking the Bellas' mishap so seriously.

He draws Beca back out of her own head. "You don't what?"

"I don't think it's possible to convince Chloe Beale to do anything she doesn't wanna do," she lies. Or maybe Beca only half-lied, because even though she changed her sentence to avoid upsetting Jesse, she is fully aware that Chloe has a propensity for getting her way more often than not.

She and Jesse watch the remainder of the movie in awkward silence, and Beca dips out soon after a short makeout sesh. "It is Sunday, and some of us unfortunately have to finish school instead of make awesome soundtracks all day," she informs Jesse.

"Yeah, I know. Sucks to suck, aca-dork," he replies, grinning.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Later, Jesse," she calls over her shoulder.

"Bye. I love you!"

"Love you too," she replies, but the enthusiasm only worms its way out sluggishly, and she drives away quickly so Jesse doesn't notice her smile has faded.

She blasts one of her angstier mix CDs on the drive home, hoping to desensitize the sick feeling in her stomach with a barrage of crunchy guitar backings and high energy drum solos, but after about fifty minutes, she has to admit it's not working. She barely hears her phone buzz over some old school Taking Back Sunday, and of course, it's another snap from Chloe, this time a video. She's decked out in a light blue apron that nearly matches her eyes (no color can ever truly accomplish that feat) and she's tapping her foot on the kitchen floor, looking impatient. After laughing for a second, Beca calls her.

"Hey, Becs, where are you?"

The amount Beca likes hearing Chloe's voice—whether it's singing or just speaking—is more than a bit disconcerting, but it's not gonna stop her from enjoying it. "Like five minutes away. When did you turn into a Stepford wife?"

"Since I got the massive urge to bake cookies earlier. Practicing for future domestic harmony with a significant other, I guess."

Beca shakes her head. "Don't ever change, Beale."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Mitchell. See you in a few."

"Yeah." She hangs up the phone and her smile won't go away, because coming home has detangled that pesky knot in her gut.


	5. Some Oh Shit Moments

Beca wonders, as she swallows a cookie dough ball that Chloe had air mailed to her, if this is how her home life could have been if everything hadn't gone to shit.

She'd forgotten that she'd never baked entirely homemade cookies before, and when she shared this little piece of information with Chloe, the redhead couldn't help but gape and said with the brisk yet cheerful tone of an optimistic teacher, "Well, we're going to change that right now."

Some tiny part of Chloe's head yells, "No, do not change that right now!" Because participating in such a domestic activity with Beca has led her mind down a dangerous path full of happy daydreams that are nothing more than illusions. Plus, well, there's a lot of little hand touches involved with the two of them mixing the dough together and forming it into small cookie rounds.

"Okay, so what size are the dough balls supposed to be?" Beca asks as Stacie and Amy drop in to the kitchen to grab some popcorn. The two of them were watching Magic Mike and trying to decide in which order they'd shag the male dancers.

"You gotta make 'em fat like a snowman's tummy!" Chloe announces, holding one future cookie up next to her face and preening.

"Fat like a snowman's tummy," Beca repeats, her voice flat and monotone, with a hint of a "WTF" lingering in the background.

Chloe nods proudly.

If Beca's eyes rolled any further, they'd be inside her skull. "Whatever you say, Chlo." She shrugs and tacks on some extra dough to her first official Beca Mitchell cookie.

They have about three dozen cookies spread a bit haphazardly on two trays, and they go in the fridge—only after Stacie and Amy steal some of the raw dough, of course.

"Bangin cookies, you two," Amy declares.

Beca gives her a small smile. "Thanks." Then she throws $6 or $7 down on the table. "That's for cookie supplies, Red. I'm gonna go wash my hands and get all this stuff off."

As she heads upstairs for the bathroom, Chloe asks the other two girls, "How far are you guys into Magic Mike?"

Stacie and Amy exchange a look. "Why would you wanna see hunky, shirtless men," Amy starts, and Stacie picks up the rest of the sentence like they're in a riff off, "When you and Beca are clearly eye-fucking non-stop?"

"Wha—n—you two need to get your minds out of the gutter!" Chloe stutters.

Stacie swings an arm around Chloe's shoulder. "Please don't insult our intelligence, hon."

"That is ridiculous!" Chloe squeaks. "I mean, yeah, Becs is my best friend, and she's awesome and talented and cool and funny and snarky but like, do you actually think I'd wanna get with her?"

"Duhhh," Amy and Stacie chorus.

Chloe drops the act for a second. "Well, she has Jesse, and they're happy, so…bully for them," she sighs.

They hear the upstairs toilet flush, and before Beca comes back down the stairs, Amy gives Chloe a quick hug and whispers, "It'll be okay, Red."

She'd like to at least pretend to believe it for a second.

* _ **At the next Bella practice**_ _*_

"Where's the tambourine shake in the background? I can't hear it!" Chloe calls out from her "listening perch" in the middle of the auditorium. "Try it again, from the end of the verse, just before the chorus."

The Bellas give off a collective groan, making them sound more like zombies than acapella all stars.

"I'm sorry I ever thought of this mashup," Beca whispers apologetically to Lilly, who simply shrugs. She'd mixed the official instrumental of Sweater Weather with the vocals in Summertime Sadness, and Lilly, their beat boxing queen, was struggling to keep the drum beats in the proper time signature and produce other sound effects.

They fuck it up again, and again, and _again_ , and finally Beca, sweating from all the repeated choreography, makes a time-out symbol with her hands.

"Let's take 5," she calls to everyone, and she feels Chloe staring daggers into her.

"You know, if you'd worked a bit more on finding a good mashup, maybe this wouldn't be such a problem," the redhead hisses.

"Dude, you're the one wanting us to keep this in!" Beca argues. "And it's really friggin difficult, okay, we're all trying-"

"Then try harder!" Chloe screeches, then falls back in her chair with a huff. "Oh, God, I sound like Bree. Dammit."

"Well, at least you can admit that sounding like her is a problem," Beca says, trying to hide a laugh. "But yeah, we could try harder. Sorry, Chlo."

"It's okay, I need to chill, too. It's just…" she sighs. "DSM is so good. We _have_ to find a way to top them."

"Well, we have a badass team, too. Plus us," Beca mentions with a small smile.

"True." Chloe whistles to gather everyone up. "Alright, so, first off, apologies for being an aca-bitch. I know enough of you had nightmares about Bree, and I don't wanna bring them back," she laughs. She glances over at Beca. "Can I submit an idea for a mashup? I know they're usually your thing, but I have a kinda crazy plan and I wanna see how it goes."

"Sure, dude, I'm all ears. Just lemme get my laptop."

"No, I wanna try it with all of us." With that, Chloe pops out of her chair and rejoins her sisters on the stage.

"You gonna tell us what the idea is so we can sing along?" Flo asks.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm trying to get it straight in my head…" She groans and stomps her foot, looking like a petulant child. "Fuck, I thought I had it!"

Beca pulls her aside. "Dude, let me help. Not that I don't trust you, but it's seriously easier if…"

Chloe glowers at her, and Beca takes a step back. "You ok?"

"Yes…no, I dunno," she mutters. "It's like, I wanna do this on my own for once. Like, to see if I can actually do it, if that makes sense. Not that I don't love your mixes, Becs, cause I do. They're the bomb. But I wanna like prove myself, I guess." Chloe frowns. "Sorry I'm being whiny."

Beca gives her a warm smile. "If I couldn't deal with someone being a little moody, that would be pretty ironic."

Chloe glances around the stage and puts on a slightly sad smile. "Bellas, I am so sorry for wasting your time today. How about we call it a day and we can talk later about potential sets?"

"Sure." The reply is lackluster, but on their way out, everyone gives Chloe some kind of encouragement—either giving her a hug or a high five or a little, "You rock, captain—and Beca hides her grin as she goes to retrieve her laptop. Because this is what Chloe Beale does to people. She makes them kinder, more patient, more understanding, without even really trying.

"So, what's the idea?" Beca asks as she pulls up a couple of mixing programs.

"Mixing Sweater Weather with some of the lyrics to Lose Yourself. I know, it's ridiculous, but like…" she glances at Beca.

"What?"

"I don't mean this as like a criticism, but I've always wondered if you could mash-up lyrics instead of just beats. Cause like, no one in acapella seems to do that, and I've gone back and watched videos from the early 2000s and late 90s, so it would be rad if we could pull out something new."

Chloe's eager, passionate outburst would have left Beca scoffing at her a few years ago. Now, it's…it's what bonds them. Because Beca gets exactly the same way and talks at a similar pace when a mashup comes together flawlessly and makes this new sound. And Chloe's eyes are burning bright, not like crazy intense, and it takes Beca a second to glance back down at her laptop and ask, "So…so what do you wanna do?"

A couple of clicks later, Chloe has an instrumental of Sweater Weather up on YouTube.

"So, like, I only really have the back end of the chorus worked out, so if we wanted to play around with the verse being from another song or something we could do that. If you'd do me the honors of singing, please?"

Chloe always has the same look when she watches Beca sing. There's fascination in it, more than a hint of pride, and this little something…it sounds so corny, but Beca thinks it's love or tenderness. Like, Chloe knows that singing and music rest close to Beca's heart, and she respects that, and that's why Beca doesn't have a problem belting, _"Cause it's too cold for you here/And now/So let me hold both your hands in the hole_ " and Chloe picks up, matching the lyrics to the beat from the Neighborhood: _"That is gaping/This world is ours for the taking/Make us queens/As we move toward a/New world order/A normal life is boring/But"_ and she stops. "And then you'd repeat the end of the chorus." She bites her lip. "What do you think? It sounds too weird, doesn't it?"

"It's good…it's workable," Beca answers. Now, Beca's never really one for super in-depth feedback, but Chloe's frown makes her cave. "Sorry, I'm not trying to be a dick, but I also can't lie and say it was absolutely perfect. But we could do it for sure." And Chloe brightens up a bit at that. "Why'd you change the lyrics to Em, though?" Beca frowns.

"Cause I want everyone to know I'm nothing without my team," Chloe answers simply, and God, why does she have to be so fucking selfless on top of being beautiful? It's horribly unfair.

"They all know, Chlo. And so do I." Beca smirks. "Did I ever say thank you for walking in on me in the shower my freshman year?"

"Finally!" Chloe exclaims, her smirk mirroring Beca's own. "I've been waiting quite a while for that thank you."

"Well, if you hadn't done that, who knows where I'd be right now." Probably somewhere else, _not_ wanting to kiss the most wonderful person you've ever met, but yanno, it's totally cool. Totes fine. Beca tries to keep telling herself that as she packs up her laptop, but the message floats in one ear and slides right out the other. Because she's definitely not focused on the Bellas enough, she needs to make something amazing at her internship to maybe have a tiny chance of landing a job after graduation, and she's falling harder for Chloe every day despite having a pretty great boyfriend.

So, yeah, she's on top of the world, obviously.

 _ ***At the retreat***_

Getting out of a bus and seeing Aubrey ranks fairly low on Beca's list of things to avoid. Like, it might crack the top 100. While she and Posen did have their issues, they now share a feeling of mutual respect, and there's nothing better than dropping sass on someone who's willing to dish it right back.

However, getting out of a bus and seeing Aubrey toting a fucking giant rifle? Yeah, that definitely is in the top ten of things Beca would run away from if she had a choice.

But she doesn't.

So she's thinking less than charitable things about her best friend right now, since Chloe was the one who declared they needed this trip.

"Hello, Bellas," Aubrey smiles. She's mellowed out, probably because she gets paidto "help struggling individuals find themselves," and Beca knows from experience that Aubrey interprets that mission statement as "make sure people aren't wimps."

She actually makes small talk with everyone for a bit (even Emily, who's admittedly sorta terrified of the older woman) and her voice hasn't risen to histrionic levels, so Beca thinks maybe this will be marginally less awful than she was expecting.

"Well, now that I've caught up with all of you…" Aubrey blasts her whistle. "Warm up jog around the cabins, 2 laps! And I'd better not see anyone walking!"

 _Goddammit._

After surviving cardio hell, they start out with what appears to be a relatively fun "team bonding" activity. Well, everyone except Beca thinks it looks fun.

There's a giant inflatable raft type thing in the lake, and they're in a tower that overlooks the lake. The tower-treehouse combo has a zipline at the end of it that extends pretty far over the water.

"This exercise is meant to teach you to live in the now," Aubrey calls. "Embrace every sight, every sensation. Revel in what you feel, smell, hear. Trust in your partner—they will not purposely hurt you, but do not be passive if you feel like you're about to enter a compromising situation."

"Aka, move if you're about to get squashed?" Amy asks.

Aubrey flares her nostrils. "Well, yeah, you can put it like that, too."

"Okayyy, I'm outta here, cause that speech was sounding kinda like an instructional porn video," Stacie interrupts. "Not that I'm against watching those, but it sounds weird coming from you, Posen. Deuces." She grabs the zipline after a running start, yells, "I'm coming in hot, Legacy, heads up!" and speeds down for a good five or six seconds before letting go. Emily screeches for a second as she gets launched, then starts laughing and does a backflip before hitting the water.

Beca really doesn't wanna do this. She is tiny, meaning she'll both have to fall further off the zipline to reach the water and get bounced higher when she's on the floating platform.

So, somehow, she's at the front of the line. Life hates her, as usual. "Uhh…pass?" she gulps.

Aubrey shakes her head. "Not how it works, Mitchell. Gotta step up and do it."

Beca scrunches her nose. "See, I'd really prefer not to."

Chloe pipes up from the middle of the line, "Can I try and help?"

"Sure. God knows you've always been better at reasoning with insubordinates," Aubrey sighs.

She has to hold in a giggle at how distraught Beca looks. The poor girl is shivering in her bikini and a life preserver that's probably three times too big for her. And Chloe just wants to kiss her softly on the forehead, on the lips, and tell her it will be okay. God, that would be so wonderful.

But instead, she just keeps holding Beca there, frozen, with a gentle gaze.

"You got this, Becs." The brunette reaches out for Chloe's hand, gives her a small fist bump.

"It'll be over in no time."

"Yeah," Beca nods, trying to psych herself up.

"You ready?"

The co-captain adjusts her grip on the zipline to make sure it's secure, then nods. She should probably make sure her mouth is secure, too. She doesn't wanna get caught gaping at the sight of Chloe Beale in a bikini. Even though it's probably the best thing she's ever seen.

"See, Bree." Chloe smiles, takes a step away from Beca. "Beca responds well to positive encouragement." She's behind Beca, so the shorter girl can't see the wicked grin that's crept onto her face. "You just have to know how to give her a proper _push."_ With that, Chloe lunges back toward Beca and shoves her off the elevated tower.

Beca can barely react to the push—she's too busy screaming nonsense because of the sudden adrenaline rush—until she's already falling from the zipline. Stacie bounces up in the air, adjusts her boobs so they're back in her swimsuit top (of course) and yells "cannon ball!" before she crashes into the water.

Beca, meanwhile, has now recovered her linguistic faculties. "DUDE!" she sputters, and it reminds her of the yell she let out when Chloe invaded her shower so long ago. "You're like the worst! You suck, Beale!"

Chloe can hardly gasp for air, she's laughing so hard at her best friend's indignation. She puts on the Kommissar's accent and asks, "Have I offended you, Maus?"

Beca throws her head back. "Ughhh!" Because _really?_ Chloe picks now of all times to channel the only other woman that makes Beca question her sexuality on a semi-regular basis?

As Chloe shoots down the zipline, she yells, "I only pick on you because I love you!"

Beca calls back, "I hate you too," just before she gets sent airborne, but she aims her face and a smile at Chloe to let her know nothing's wrong and she's not actually pissed.

She tries to follow Aubrey's dumb advice about living in the _now_ as she rises in the air.

Right now, she can see a bunch of tall ass trees in the distance.

Right now, she realizes it's a good thing she didn't bother washing her hair today, cause it's about to get ruined by lake water.

Right now, she thinks back to how she got over her fear of coasters, and guesses this experience would get about a 4 on the excitement scale at Six Flags.

Right now, she's whispering to herself, "I love you, Chloe Beale."

The thought plops itself down so comfortably in Beca's brain that she forgets to plug her nose as she goes under the water.

She gags on what is either seaweed or hair, kicks hard and windmills her arms a bit wildly—she's a decent swimmer, but really only excels at the doggy paddle—to break the surface.

She ducks back under as she passes Chloe because following that revelation, seeing Chloe in a bikini would make her mind short circuit, probably.

She just…like…like her reality just got aca-fucked up!

Beca wanders over to the bathroom, dries off with a towel and shakes her head. No, she doesn't have water in her ear, but she wants to see if that idea will shake loose and come out and let her return to a typical existence where Jesse is who she wants and Chloe is nothing more than her amazing best friend.

No dice.

As much as she hates to admit it, there's one person she's gonna have to emulate to survive this insane happenstance.

Aubrey fucking Posen.

She's gonna need to plan this shit out, keep her focus on the Bellas despite this whole "I fell for my best friend" deal, not hurt Chloe or Jesse, _and_ own up to her feelings.

It's not exactly her best laid plan, but it's a start. Chloe calls out, "Becs, where are you?" and she answers, "I'm in the bathroom, dude." Her voice is a tiny bit shaky, but it doesn't crack, and her heart doesn't feel like it's going to explode.

Ok. It's a start.

 _ ***Evening, around the campfire***_

Chloe really doesn't wanna get her hopes up. She hasn't done so in a few months, but she notices Beca continually smiling at her, and then obviously trying not to stare at her. It's in the top ten of adorable Beca-isms, along with scowling half-heartedly when she doesn't get her way, trying to avoid admitting she's uncomfortable when Georgia goes through unseasonable cold snaps, and feeling her mixes.

And they're sharing their _feelings,_ so Chloe's kinda shocked when she notices Beca looks…well, not disgusted at the personal turn of events. Which is a pretty massive change from how she usually takes these sorts of things.

Bree, of course, turns to her former captain first. "So, I hear someone is graduating this year."

Chloe takes a deep breath and nods. "I'm looking for jobs right now, and I'm in correspondence with the principal of St. Gregory's Middle School. She's looking for a music and choir instructor and I'm set to have an interview just before graduation."

Aubrey squeezes Chloe in a big hug. "That is so great! I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks," she smiles back.

They go around, swapping stories—CR will be getting married soon, Amy realizes she's in love with Bumper, Flo will be going to medical school or going on a year of service, and Stacie is taking on a management role at The Gap at the mall, hopefully getting fast tracked up their corporate ladder. Beca's at the end of the circle, next to Chloe.

"So, Mitchell, what's up with you? Following Jesse out of Atlanta?" Aubrey asks, her tone surprisingly civil.

She blinks a few times and gives Bree an honest to God, genuine smile. "You know, I think I'll be staying here. Hopefully, still working with Residual Heat. If not…well, sometimes it takes a bit of time to figure out what you truly want. I'll land on my feet, I think."

"Really?" Aubrey cocks her head to the side, cause she can't picture the Beca she knew being happy—or even just not miserable—if she wasn't making music.

"Mmhmm," she nods, then grabs another marshmallow to roast. "Call it a hunch or intuition," she shrugs, and her eyes flick over to Chloe for an instant.

It's a tell. It has to be. Aubrey's co-workers have gotten her hooked on Texas Hold 'Em, and after about five months of playing, she can read people like nobody's business.

She asks casually, "Where did this hunch come from?"

Beca shrugs again. "Dunno." Again, her eyes flash sideways, glancing at Chloe for a quarter beat. "Just kinda came to me."

"Alright," Bree murmurs. "So…" she looks around the circle, and no one seems to be picking up on what she wants them to do. "You're a bunch of aca-bitches, sing something! Be the badass Bellas I know you are."

It takes a few minutes, as they toss out and discard various song suggestions, until Chloe's clear voice rises above the discord.

 _"I got my ticket for the long way round_ / _Two bottle whiskey for the way/And I sure would like some sweet company/And I'm leaving tomorrow, whaddaya say?"_

Beca takes up the chorus as she slides her fingers between Chloe's. " _When I'm gone, when I'm gone/You're gonna miss me when I'm gone/You're gonna miss me by my hair/You're gonna miss me everywhere, oh/You're gonna miss me when I'm gone."_

Everyone fills in on the backing vocals, but no one's going to jump in on this one. It's the co-caps, bringing them together, bringing them home, one last time, on the verse. " _I've got my ticket for the long way 'round/The one with the prettiest of views."_

It's just a complete coincidence that Beca and Chloe turn to each other on that line. It's totally only because they're clapping their hands together to make the cup sound in the background. " _It's got mountains, it's got rivers/It's got sights to give you shivers"_ and Beca goes "brr!" and fakes a shiver, lighting up brighter than the campfire when Chloe's crystal laugh rings out before she continues, in her lower voice, _"But it sure would be prettier with you."_

Everyone else joins on the final chorus, Bree notes with a smile on her face, and when they're done, Chloe turns to her semi-expectantly.

"Did—did we just find our sound?"

Bree turns her head to Beca, who answers with a small incline of her head, "I think we did."

"Are you all ready for Worlds?" Aubrey asks.

"Yeah, I think so," Beca nods. They've changed the set list up a few times, but they've found something that works. Hopefully.

Bree looks like she wants to ask more, but knows better. After all, the Bellas aren't her baby anymore. "Well, best of luck."

 _ ***In the tent***_

Beca's trying and failing to fall asleep when a shock of red hair suddenly rubs against her forehead.

"Sup, Bambi?" she murmurs.

Chloe frowns, confused.

"You got a deer in headlights look going."

"I'm just surprised you're awake, that's all. Normally you're a pretty heavy sleeper."

"Yeah, well, CR's knee is pressed against my butt and I think Lilly accidentally grabbed my boob earlier, so…"

"Want a backrub?" Chloe offers. "You seem tense."

Beca's pretty sure skeletons would come back from the dead for a renowned Chloe Beale backrub, so she rolls over slowly, trying not to wake anyone up. Easier said than done when you have ten girls packed like sardines into the world's crappiest tent.

"Ooh, yeah, there we go," Chloe whispers as she runs her knuckles and thumbs along Beca's spine. She can't help but wonder what it would be like to get to do this on a regular basis. Cause Beca seems to stress fairly easily, and why wouldn't Chloe wanna help her best friend relax?

Beca bites the inside of her cheek because otherwise she's gonna be letting out some noises Stacie would approve. She rolls back over to meet Chloe's upside down face. "Thank you," she breathes, "for everything." She catches Chloe's eyes flitting between her own eyes and lips and _fuck_ , what she wouldn't give to be single so she could run her fingers along that jawline and pull her close…

"Of course," Chloe whispers back, and as she wipes a few stray hairs back from Beca's forehead, a realization hits her with the force of a Fat Amy fart.

She could get used to this. No problem. (Dating Beca, not sleeping in a tent full of girls.)

Hell, the two of them already spend nearly all their free time together anyway. Would it be so crazy to sleep with Beca, wake up to her grumpy face, kiss her until she smiles?

It's that thought that prompts her to drop the line, "You know, one of my biggest regrets is that I didn't do enough experimenting in college."

Beca swallows. "Like what kind?"

Chloe tries to bring up a hand to wave it around, but it's stuck in her sleeping bag, and Beca grins at the attempted gesture. "You know…taking more risks, meeting different people, having experiences I could grow to love if I'd just given them an opportunity."

Beca nods. "Yeah, I feel you."

Chloe gives her that all out smile, the one that's blinding as a dentist's overhead light, and plants a kiss on Beca's forehead before whispering, "Sleep well, Becs."

Beca runs a hand over where she assumes Chloe's arm is, finds her hand, and squeezes it. "You too, Chlo."

"We gotta turn some Germans into schnitzel in a few days."

"We will," Beca laughs. "Night."

"Goodnight." Chloe drifts off to sleep easily, and her dream-self ends up going to a little ice cream parlor with a surly, short, caring, soon to be famous DJ named Beca, but waking up to the real B.M. the next day is even sweeter than the cone of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough she'd had in the dream.


	6. Final Competition and the Future

So DSM might win.

Not that the Bellas didn't know that all along, but watching them masterfully mash "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark" and "All I Do is Win" together has caused a few long faces.

Chloe gathers them up in a circle. "Hands in, ladies," she commands, then looks around at everybody. "Okay, obligatory cheesy final captain speech. I am…I could not ask for a better group of friends to work with on a regular basis. You make all of this worth it." She shoots a watery smile at everyone, but blinks a few times and clears it away. "I'll cry later. For now, let's rock this stage. Win or lose, I love all of you."

They bust out the "Forever/No Sleep" remix first with CR and Stacie killing it going back and forth on Drake's lyrics to Wiz Khalifa's peppy beat, and Beca has to stop listening to how good they sound as they hit the line, _"Everyone who doubted us is askin for forgiveness/If you ain't been a part of it/At least you got to witness…_ " and she and Emily transition into the Lana del Rey section with Chloe, Flo, Lilly, and CR providing the synths and bass lines for the "Teenage Dream" instrumental: _"…What makes us girls/We all look for heaven and we put love first/Something that we'd die for, it's a curse/Don't cry about it, don't cry about it."_ Beca looks out into the crowd, and judging by the head bobbing and jumping, they seem just as engaged as they were for the DSM set, so that's a good sign. They keep going, and she grins as she and Chloe sing the lines, _"Runnin from the cops/In our black bikini tops/Screamin get us while we're hot, get us while we're hot!"_ They go back to back, wink at the crowd, then stage whisper, _"C'mon…take a shot!"_ Amy backs them up and takes over, hamming it up, as she switches into Pat Benatar: _"Hit me with your best shot. Why don't you hit me with your best shot? Hit me with your best shot! Fire away_!" and Beca and Chloe have to stifle giggles because they've come full circle, repeating Amy's line, _"Fire away, fire away."_ As they harmonize perfectly, just like they did four years ago, and all the Bellas come in, too, Beca puts on her fullest smile, matching Chloe's.

 _"Ricochet, you take your aim_. _Fire away, fire away. You shoot me down, but I won't fall. I am titanium. You shoot me down, but I won't fall. I am titanium. I am titanium."_ And the rest of the Bellas backpedal into the shadows, leaving just Chloe and Beca. Which is kinda how it's always been, really. And they aren't looking into the crowd now—they've turned to each other, singing the final line: _"I am titanium."_

They remember to turn back to the audience, back up to join their sisters, and bow.

The host takes the front of the stage. "Thank you to Das Sound Machine and the Barden Bellas for those fantastic performances. Unfortunately, only one team can be declared the winner of the Acapella World Championship. And that team is…" he turns and points to the Jumbotron. "THE BARDEN BELLAS!"

Beca approaches him to grab the trophy by herself since Chloe had dropped to her knees, buried her face in her hands, and was openly sobbing tears of joy. CR, Amy, and Stacie boosted Emily onto their shoulders and started chanting, "Leg-a-cy! Leg-a-cy!"

Of course, nothing's ever easy in Beca Mitchell's life, not even accepting an award. The Kommissar is there, waiting for the traditional handshake. Beca expects her hand to get squeezed off, but the taller Amazonian goddess—err, woman—has a fairly gentle touch.

 _"Just don't say anything, don't make a fool of yourself in front of her again,"_ Beca thinks to herself.

She glares at Beca for a solid half minute, then sighs, "Well, this sucks, but it is only singing, not life. Your Bellas are a talented group, Mitchell. Congratulations."

She can't hold in her surprise. "WHAT?!"

The Kommissar's tiny, shit eating smirk is eerily reminiscent of her own. "I said, congratulations."

"I kn-know!" Beca sputters. "Bu-bu—what happened to the accent?"

"It's for show. And to intimidate people," she laughs. "Plus, it reminds some fans of our culture and history, so we do it for them, too." She slips back into the voice. "Is fairly easy trick, ja?"

"Ja." Beca feels a bit more at ease, and even though she's not totally up on her etiquette, she should say something polite, probably. "You all did an amazing job. We studied your videos a lot, trying to figure out how to get better."

"Thanks." She smiles and offers her hand again. "My name is Luisa, by the way."

They shake. "Beca."

Luisa grins. "Now go. It looks like your redhead wants the trophy. Like, _really_ wants it."

Beca laughs. "Yeah, she does." She takes a few steps away, then decides, screw it. The woman probably already thinks she's bonkers. "Add me on Skype, if you have it," she calls. "My screen name is BecaMitchellDJ. I'd like to pick your brain sometime about music."

Luisa laughs. "Sure thing, Maus."

The Bellas circle around Beca, and she thrusts the trophy as high as she can, which isn't that high, but that's not the point.

She takes a deep breath to try and settle down. Doesn't work. "I just…I don't have words right now," she gushes.

"Do you ever?" Stacie calls back.

"Shut up, Conrad," Beca laughs. "Just…wow. I…I am so proud of each and every one of you for helping us get here, get this." She gestures with her free hand at the trophy, then passes it to—who else?—Chloe, and wraps her in a bear hug. "Chloe…" That's all she has, because her best friend could not possibly look more beautiful or proud or happy, and Beca loves that she's helped her achieve this moment—seriously, it's like Harry Potter levels of magic that they even made it here, let alone won—and she hopes that all gets conveyed in the hug.

Chloe pulls back, still wiping tears away, and grins at Beca. "Don't tell Bree I said this, cause I don't wanna die, but…" She raises Beca's hand in the air and shouts, "Let's get a round of applause for Beca effin Mitchell, the best co-captain I could ever have! And I have a little surprise for this occasion." Chloe runs backstage and returns with three bottles of champagne. She shakes one up, pops it open, and yells, "Let's get this party started!"

The party doesn't really stop when the Bellas return to the U.S., seeing as they'd arranged to take their finals _before_ Worlds so they could excessively toast their success or numb the pain of failure. On Thursday, the wild living dies down a little bit, mainly because Chloe, one of the ringleaders of the excitement, had her interview at St. Gregory's Middle School. Beca cannot believe she's awake at 8:30 a.m. on a day when she could be sleeping, but hey, you've gotta support your best friend, right?

Especially when she's hyperventilating and about to down her second or third shot of espresso for the morning.

"No, Chlo," Beca mutters, unplugging the coffee maker and taking Chloe's "I'm walking on sunshine" mug away.

"Ok, yeah, you're right, I can't have more coffee right now." The redhead plays with her hair, making sure it's not falling in her face. "Alright, do I look presentable? Do I look suitable to teach students?"

"Y-ye-yes to both questions," Beca yawns. She manages a real smile, despite the fact that she'd rather be sleeping, and Chloe kind of wants to kiss her. She needs to get that idea to take permanent leave.

Beca stretches and blinks the sleep out of her eyes. "Listen to me, Beale. You got this. You're smart and talented and caring, and I know you can prove it in an interview."

" _Aww,_ Becs!" Chloe teeters over to her in heels and wraps her up in a hug. Dammit, her vanilla perfume smells good, and Beca steps back because she doesn't wanna make it too obvious that she just sniffed Chloe's hair a little bit. "Thanks."

"No problem, dude." As Chloe's leaving, Beca shuffles off to the kitchen, picks up a half-empty bottle of Cuervo off the fridge, and waves it. "Victory shot for you when you get back, okay?"

Chloe laughs, and God, it's becoming Beca's favorite sound. Or maybe she's only just now recognizing it as her favorite sound. Whatever. Either way, she's screwed. "I'm holding you to that, Mitchell."

"Alright. Go kick some ass."

Chloe turns smartly in her heels and salutes. "Yes, ma'am!"

As she leaves, Beca collapses on the counter in the kitchen.

The way she acts for Chloe reminds her of some old song by The Spill Canvas where the lyrics go, _"If you need anything, just say the word, I mean anything (I really do)."_

Because she just woke up around 8:30, nursing a partial hangover, to see Chloe Beale off to an interview. Hell, it was a two minute sequence of events. But it's Chloe, the great equalizer.

Beca's pretty sure she could rationalize jumping off the roof of the Bella house into that mass of thorny rosebushes out back if it would get Chloe this job.

She considers taking a shot to try and block out the pain of being lovesick.

Yes, she finally admits it to herself.

She's a shitty girlfriend, a shitty best friend. Jesse deserves someone who can give all of herself (or himself, cause God knows Beca could relate to someone randomly being blindsided by homosexual love) to their relationship. And she just can't.

But even the smell of tequila burns and makes her stomach turn, so Beca heads back upstairs and flops down on her bed, tries to blot everything out with music.

She finds Chloe in every goddamn track.

* _ **Chloe, driving back**_ *

Chloe can't be Beca Mitchell.

As in, she can't just ignore her feelings or block them out with music. In fact, for her (and, surprise surprise, for Beca, too) music often ends up exacerbating said feelings.

So when she turns the car radio on and hears the chorus of "Dear Future Husband" starting, she tilts her head back and blows out a long breath.

Her life would be much, much easier if she just had a future husband on her hands. Or just a boyfriend. Or, if she could deal with the fact that _Beca_ has one.

Except Chloe's gotten accustomed to grabbing Starbucks with the short, grumpy brunette on weekends after they party a bit too hard, and somehow always sitting next to her during movie nights at the Bella house. They go on little errands together cause why not?

In short, Chloe got used to being domestic with her best friend, when usually, such two person activities were reserved for actual couples in real relationships.

Her "relationships" with guys were usually labeled with the more accurate, less loveable term "things." Even with Tom…they'd had fun together and only been with each other, but they weren't too surprised things ended, and the fact that they were able to casually chat only about two weeks after their break up pointed to a mutual lack of investment. But her friendship with Beca? It's become a necessity, and Chloe doesn't like relying on others for her well-being. When she does, she throws her entire _being_ into that person (or, in the case of the Barden Bellas, that entity). But up to this point in her life, she's trusted without leaping. Loving her family and friends—even Aubrey when she was going bat-shit crazy—loving music, that's easy.

Loving Beca Mitchell as just a friend and expecting everything to be easy and perfect makes about as much sense as shoving a fork in a live electrical outlet and being surprised when it hurts.

Chloe doesn't know if she'd survive loving Beca as more than a friend (not that she'd ever have her that way). And if she lost Beca's friendship?

She doesn't consider it, can't contemplate it, won't let that catastrophe of a thought almost cause her to have a nervous breakdown and rear end a Chevy truck while she's driving.

She opens the front door to find a still sleepy Bella house and sighs in relief that Aubrey's merely with them in spirit because between the empty cartons of Franzia in the kitchen, stepped on pizza boxes, and half-unpacked 30 racks of Miller Lite and Rolling Rock in the living room, the neurotic blonde would probably murder someone for desecrating the sacred home.

She calls up the stairs, "Becs, I'm back, and I want that shot, so get your ass outta bed."

Beca's already in the kitchen, hunched over the table.

"Hey, what's up?" Chloe asks, patting her best friend on the shoulder. "You ok?"

Beca makes an incoherent noise. "I…I just got a call from Residual Heat." Her eyes go wide like Amy's do when she sees pie or a sexy guy, and she's running her hands through her hair. "They said the Atlanta branch can't keep me on, so after graduation, if I wanna stay with them, I'm gonna have to move to North Carolina."


End file.
